The order is a crime for Apple to describe, so British users learn what happens to their privacy rights from court paperwork and leaks.
Apple has filed a new complaint at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal against a UK government demand for access to the encrypted iCloud backups of British users, the Financial Times reported.
Citing an order issued by the court, the FT said the filing went in last month.
Apple confirmed the complaint to Reuters and said nothing further. The company's one repeated line, over years of this fight, is that it has never built a backdoor into any of its products or services and never will.
Apple has little to say but it's likely because saying more would break the law. The order under challenge is a "technical capability notice," a secret demand issued by the Home Secretary under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
A TCN can force a company to give UK security services access to customer data even when it is encrypted, and the company that receives one cannot legally disclose it without the Home Secretary's permission.
Apple and the Home Office both refuse to confirm the notice exists.
A British government spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the existence of any notice, Reuters reported. The spokesperson said, "The UK supports strong encryption and robust privacy protections, but it is also vital that law enforcement can access communications when necessary and proportionate to protect the public from terrorism, serious crime, and child sexual abuse."
The people whose backups are at stake and privacy at risk hear about all of this through leaks and court paperwork, never from the company or the government.